As you may recall the U S military once rostered a number of FM's, particularly H10-44's. In 1980 the local Amtrak rep arranged a tour of the military's locomotive rebuild facility (it's still there) at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. We had discussion with the staff, and topic of FM's came up. One was being rebuilt at the time. One mechanic made the observation FM's had to be under heavy load to keep from carboning up. Few military assignments required really heavy loads, so he believed FM's were not an ideal military unit. To "clean out" the OP cylinders of FM's he said (I kid you not) they would run Dutch cleanser in the cylinders with the engine running.

I worked in plant that had 4 six cylinder OP engines that were prime movers in a co-generation plant for 9, years. We changed 144+, cylinders trying to find secret to maintaining water seal between bottom of liners and crankcase/exhaust belt area. Never saw a dirty cylinder. We used a Mobil oil lubricant. Exhaust ports were always clean. Never solved problem of engines blowing oil into waste heat boilers and coking them up. Factory claimed we did not load our engines enough and so never had hot dry exhaust.

I worked in plant that had 4 six cylinder OP engines that were prime movers in a co-generation plant for 9, years. We changed 144+, cylinders trying to find secret to maintaining water seal between bottom of liners and crankcase/exhaust belt area.

Swtichstand,
I'd like to know more about this, such as location and company. I am also experiencing recurring liner troubles in a F-M OP dual-fuel cogen plant, and would like to talk root cause and solutions with someone who has seen it.
Thanks!
rklopp

You may consider installing an air box drain at one end of the cold side. Also, after you shut the engine down after use, wait an hour then bar it over one full turn (use the jacking tool o0nly) to clear the oil off the top piston. Yes, you need to run them quite regulary at full horsepower to keep them cleen.